About Pucker Up

My mission is to educate people of all genders and sexual orientations in their pursuit of healthy, empowering, and transformative sex and relationships. I spread my pleasure-positive message through my books, films, writing, teaching, and lectures.
—Tristan Taormino®, Founder, PuckerUp.com

PuckerUp.com is author, sex educator, and pornographer Tristan Taormino’s sex-positive salon. It’s a place where people come to get honest, down-to-earth, non-judgmental sex and relationship advice. It’s a resource for information about sexuality (with an emphasis on anal pleasure and health), kink and BDSM, relationships (especially alternative ones), feminist pornography, LGBT community issues, and sex-positive events. It’s a community space to connect with other sex nerds, writers, anal aficionados, ethical porn makers and lovers, sex educators, activists, and members of the perverati.

So, how did it all begin? When she was 24 years old, with little publishing experience and even less capital, Tristan Taormino founded Pucker Up, dubbed “the zine with a mouth that’s not afraid to use it,” a 64-page magazine of writing and photography dedicated to sex and gender. After the first issue, she teamed up with co-publisher Karen Green. As co-publisher, Tristan was responsible for nearly every aspect of the publication, from editing and marketing to sales and distribution. Tristan and Karen published four issues of Pucker Up (1995-1996), which featured work by then up-and-coming writers like Laura Antoniou, Alison Tyler, M. Christian, Robin Podolsky, Gerry Gomez Pearlberg, Kembra Pfahler, Karen Green, Heather Lewis; it also showcased photography and artwork by Richard Kern, Diane DiMassa, Michele Serchuk, and more. Kate Bornstein was photographed by Del La Grace Volcano for the cover of the final issue, “The Gender Issue.” It featured pieces by Riki Anne Wilchins, D. Travers Scott, Rachel Pepper, and Carol Queen, and profiles of “Gender Icons,” including Loren Cameron, Lily of the Valley, Mo B. Dick, Dred Gerestant, and others.

In 1999, Tristan launched PuckerUp.com as her official website; she launched her email newsletter the same year, The Double T Newsletter. In 2002, the site was moved to a new server and redesigned. PuckerUp.com attracts an average of more than 100,000 unique visitors and 5 million page views per month. The site’s Alexa rating has been under 100,000 and it maintains an average of under 200,000 in the United States and 500,000 worldwide.

Today, the site features frequently updated news, features, interviews, sex and relationship advice, and message boards on its more than 400 pages. Plus, it’s home to the most comprehensive collection of anal sex information on the Internet and one of the most extensive resource guides to feminist pornography. PuckerUp.com reaches an audience interested in a variety of subjects, including: sex education, advice, toys, products, workshops, college and university lectures; anal health and pleasure; consensual BDSM and kink; feminist pornography; media and popular culture; sex positive communities, events and politics; polyamory, non-monogamy, open relationships, and alternatives to infidelity; GLBT, queer, trans, genderqueer, queer heterosexual, and gender variant identities; alternative sexual identities and expressions.